The City Council (Olney, Texas) has approved preliminary new fire safety and occupancy rules for recreational vehicle parks, including three RV parks and the Over Yonder RV Park and Wade’s Park RV.
According to a report, the Council has been working on new rules for nearly a year since John D. Cumpton asked about the possibility of turning an empty lot at 516 Avenue B into an RV park.
The City has been working to improve its 2003 fire and building codes to achieve a higher fire safety rating. This will result in lower fire insurance rates citywide. Additionally, the City has revamped RV and mobile home parks rules, Olney Code Enforcement Officer Dustin Hudson said.
“This is a park atmosphere. We haven’t had any mobile home parks operating here and haven’t for a long time,” Hudson said.
The new ordinance gives the existing RV parks two years to comply with the new rules, including wider spacing between RV pads to allow firefighting equipment access and could require the replumbing of water and wastewater lines and updating electrical.
In addition, the older parks will have to comply with the new fire safety regulations.
The new regulations also restrict propane storage tanks to just two 30-pounds tanks. The ordinance makes both the owner of the RV park and the tenants of the park jointly accountable for any violations of the new rules with fines up to $500 for fire, safety, or health violations, Hudson said.
The new ordinance establishes an RV park district. The finalization of the ordinance will occur following its second reading.
Hudson explained that, along with the planned RV park by Cumpton, he had received two additional inquiries about constructing RV parks in Olney.
This story originally appeared on Olney Enterprise.